"The accused provided chemical products which allowed acts committed with the intention of destroying a group or a part of that group," special war crimes prosecutor Fred Teeven told the court.

"He knew the finality of these products and the genocidal intention of his customers."

Van Anraat, 63, is accused of aiding genocide and war crimes for supplying key ingredients for the production of nerve gas to Iraq between 1984 and 1988.

Prosecutors say nerve gas produced with the chemicals van Anraat sold to Iraq were used in several massacres of Kurds in Iran and Iraq.

He is the first person to appear in court on genocide charges over the 1988 poison gas attacks on the Kurdish town of Halabja in northern Iraq.

The massacre, which killed more than 5,000 people in a single day, also features among the preliminary charges against the former Iraqi dictator, who is currently on trial in Baghdad.

Van Anraat does not deny selling the chemical components to Iraq, but maintains that he was not aware of their final use.

"The accused says that if he had known the purpose of these products he would not have sold them ... He could not not have known that they would be used to produce mustard gas. He had contacts at the highest level with the Iraqi authorities," the prosecutor said.

Fifteen Kurdish victims from Iraq and Iran have joined the criminal trial as civil parties and are asking for the symbolic amount of 680 eurosdollars) in damages each.

"Years later, the victims that have come to testify are still suffering from these atrocities. But how can all the other victims continue living? Van Anraat does not seem to show any regret," the prosecutor said.

The trial is in its final week, with a verdict expected on December 23.